(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a two cyclic cinnamide compound and a pharmaceutical agent comprising the compound as an active ingredient. More specifically, the present invention relates to a nonpeptidic two cyclic cinnamide compound and an amyloid-β (hereinafter referred to as Aβ) production inhibitor which comprises the compound as an active ingredient and is particularly effective for treatment of a neurodegenerative disease caused by Aβ such as Alzheimer's disease or Down's syndrome.
(2) Description of Related Art
Alzheimer's disease is a disease characterized by degeneration and loss of neurons as well as formation of senile plaques and neurofibrillary degeneration. Currently, Alzheimer's disease is treated only with symptomatic treatment using a symptom improving agent typified by an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, and a fundamental remedy to inhibit progression of the disease has not yet-been developed. It is necessary to develop a method for controlling the cause of the onset of pathology in order to create a fundamental remedy for Alzheimer's disease.
It is assumed that Aβ-proteins as metabolites of amyloid precursor proteins (hereinafter referred to as APP) are highly involved in degeneration and loss of neurons and onset of symptoms of dementia (see Klein W L, and seven others, Alzheimer's disease-affected brain: Presence of oligomeric Aβ ligands (ADDLs) suggests a molecular basis for reversible memory loss, Proceding National Academy of Science USA 2003, Sep. 2; 100(18), p. 10417-10422; and Nitsch R M, and sixteen others, Antibodies against β-amyloid slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease, Neuron, 2003, May 22; 38, p. 547-554, for example). An Aβ-protein has, as main components, Aβ40 consisting of 40 amino acids and Aβ42 in which the number of amino acids is increased by two at the C-terminal. The Aβ40 and Aβ42 are known to have high aggregability (see Jarrett J T, and two others, The carboxy terminus of the β amyloid protein is critical for the seeding of amyloid formation: Implications for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, Biochemistry, 1993, 32(18), p. 4693-4697, for example) and to be main components of senile plaques (see Jarrett J T, and two others, The carboxy terminus of the β amyloid protein is critical for the seeding of amyloid formation: Implications for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, Biochemistry, 1993, 32(18), p. 4693-4697; Glenner G G, and one other, Alzheimer's disease: initial report of the purification and characterization of a novel cerebrovascular amyloid protein, Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 1984, May 16, 120(3), p. 885-890; and Masters C L, and five others, Amyloid plaque core protein in Alzheimer disease and Down syndrome, Proceding National Academy of Science USA, 1985, June, 82(12), p. 4245-4249, for example). Further, it is known that the Aβ40 and Aβ42 are increased by mutation in APP and presenilin genes which is observed in familial Alzheimer's disease (see Gouras G K, and eleven others, Intraneuronal Aβ42 accumulation in human brain, American Journal of Pathology, 2000, January, 156(1), p. 15-20; Scheuner D, and twenty others, Secreted amyloid α-protein similar to that in the senile plaques of Alzheimer's disease is increased in vivo by the presenilin 1 and 2 and APP mutations linked to familial Alzheimer's disease, Nature Medicine, 1996, August, 2(8), p. 864-870; and Forman M S, and four others, Differential effects of the swedish mutant amyloid precursor protein on β-amyloid accumulation and secretion in neurons and nonneuronal cells, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1997, Dec. 19, 272(51), p. 32247-32253, for example). Accordingly, a compound that reduces production of Aβ40 and Aβ42 has been expected as a progression inhibitor or prophylactic agent for Alzheimer's disease.
Aβ is produced by cleaving APP by β-secretase and subsequently by γ-secretase. For this reason, attempts have been made to create γ-secretase and β-secretase inhibitors in order to reduce Aβ production. Many of these secretase inhibitors already known are, for example, peptides and peptide mimetics such as L-685,458 (see Shearman M S, and nine others, L-685,458, an Aspartyl Protease Transition State Mimic, Is a Potent Inhibitor of Amyloid β-Protein Precursor γ-Secretase Activity, Biochemistry, 2000, Aug. 1, 39(30), p. 8698-8704, for example) and LY-411575 (see Shearman M S, and six others, Catalytic Site-Directed γ-Secretase Complex Inhibitors Do Not Discriminate Pharmacologically between Notch S3 and β-APP Cleavages, Biochemistry, 2003, Jun. 24, 42(24), p. 7580-7586; Lanz T A, and three others, Studies of Aβ pharmacodynamics in the brain, cerebrospinal fluid, and plasma in young (plaque-free) Tg2576 mice using the γ-secretase inhibitor N2-[(2S)-2-(3,5-difluorophenyl)-2-hydroxyethanoyl]-N1-[(7S)-5-methyl-6-oxo-6,7-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[b,d]azepin-7-yl]-L-alaninamide (LY-411575), The journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, 2004, April, 309(1), p. 49-55; and Wong G T, and twelve others, Chronic treatment with the γ-secretase inhibitor LY-411,575 inhibits β-amyloid peptide production and alters lymphopoiesis and intestinal cell differentiation, The journal of biological chemistry, 2004, Mar. 26, 279(13), p. 12876-12882, for example).